[dropcap]S[/dropcap]ENIOR Advocates Indira Jaising and Anand Grover have reacted strongly to the information that notice has been issued on a petition filed by an organisation called “Lawyers Voice” calling for their criminal prosecution.

“It is obvious to us that this is victimisation on account of Ms. Jaising taking up the issue of the procedure adopted in relation to the allegations of sexual harassment against the Chief Justice of India by a former employee of the Supreme Court, which Ms. Jaising has done so in her capacity as a concerned citizen, a senior member of the Bar and a women’s rights advocate, without commenting on the merits of the allegations,” Jaising and Grover said in a press statement issued jointly by them and on behalf of the Lawyers Collective.

“We are deeply disturbed by the turn of events,” they said.

It appeared, they said, from the oral submissions made today by the advocate for the petitioner that that their case concerns the “mis-utilisation” of foreign funding to the Lawyers Collective (LC) under the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act, 2010 (“FCRA”).

“We wish to state that LC has no foreign funding since 2016, when its FCRA registration was suspended and subsequently cancelled by the Ministry of Home Affairs on false and illegal grounds. LC has taken up appropriate legal proceedings against the cancellation in accordance with law. In any event, we strongly dispute any allegation of mis-utilisation of any funds,” the press note said, asserting that they would respond to the petition, as and when they were served the same.

“We are seeking competent legal advice and our future course of action will be decided in due course,” the press statement said.

Read the Press Statement

[pdfviewer]https://cdn.theleaflet.in/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/08170816/Press-statement-on-behalf-of-IJ-AG-LC-08-05-2019.pdf[/pdfviewer]